


The Embers of the Ashwinder

by S E Cypher (elrd)



Series: Sloe Line [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Rivalry, Harry Potter Next Generation, Legilimency, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Next Generation, Next-Gen, Occlumency, Pureblood Culture (Harry Potter), Pureblood Politics (Harry Potter), Wizarding Culture (Harry Potter), Wizarding Politics (Harry Potter), Wizengamot, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2019-12-30 05:46:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18309404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elrd/pseuds/S%20E%20Cypher
Summary: James Potter starts his first year, clashing with society's expectations, new friends, Slytherins, and his not-entirely-functional family.Beatrix Perplex startsherfirst year after being bounced around the foster care system all her life before being up and tossed into Slytherin. While all too familiar with snakes, she has to adjust to the ways of the purebloods and make a name for herself in a House whereeveryonealready has one.NextGen. Several not-quite-connected plots running. Partially OC-centric.





	The Embers of the Ashwinder

**Author's Note:**

> Google Slides: http://tinyurl.com/sloeline
> 
> I will add warning tags eventually, but only as they apply, which might not even be during this book of the upcoming series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incantations when used are bolded, underlined, italicized, and capitalized. Books are bolded and underlined.  
> Any and all Britpicking, as well as any grammatical corrections and such, are totally welcome! 
> 
> Make sure to check the times to reference. For instance, this chapter starts out after the train has moved but then goes back to boarding time from a different perspective later.

**11:30 AM, September 1, 2015**

**A compartment**

**3rd carriage, Hogwarts Express, Platform 9 3/4, King's Cross Station, London, England**

Araminta Lufkin, halfblood extraordinaire, set up shop in the compartment she and her House-mates had been using for all the three years previous. Today it was just the girls, however, because they had some extra additions to the compartment. With the additions _and_  the boys, the compartment would be simply too crowded. So, the genders seperated and a few firstie girls had joined them in the compartment: her own sister, Amarantha; Evangeline Ealdest, younger sister of her friend Elaine; and Celosia Flamel. Flamel had never met any of the other members of the compartment besides Fausta Avery, her second cousin, being from another country and all. Therefore, she had to get acquainted with the other girls immediately.

Fausta, an imposing girl with reddish-brown hair and high brows, introduced each of the girls in turn in a clockwise order. "Celosia, may I introduce you to: Luftkin, Araminta Lufkin; Lufkin, Amarantha Lufkin; Buttermere, Petronilla Buttermere; Elaine Ealdest of Ealdest; Evangeline Ealdest of Ealdest; and Marianne Ilminster of Travers."

Flamel gave a general nod to all of them, saying "Hello," to which she received a chorus of the same word repeated back at her.

With everyone officially acquainted with each other, Araminta got to business, taking three items out of her robe pocket. A jar full of Brown's Clearcatch(a gel that could be used to stick things to walls/windows/etc., in lieu of a Permanent Sticking Charm or a regular hook or fastener), a silver hand-mirror, and a thin piece of glass the exact size of the reflective portion of the hand-mirror. She slathered some gel on the ornate back of the mirror, which had the monogram AKK on it. Then, she tapped the mirror with her wand thrice.

Immediately, the mirror lit up, showing another compartment who had done the same method with their partner mirror, this one full of the fourth year boys and their firstie entourage. Before greeting them, however, she fasted the glass piece to the mirror, which made a projection appear in front of the mirror that enlarged what one saw in the mirror to be roughly the size of the compartment itself. With the boys' hand-mirror fastened in about the same place on their own window, it appeared as though the projection continued the compartment over an extra-long row of seats to another door, a slightly off-setting sight.

After Araminta had backed up from the mirror did the males finally greet her, followed by greeting the rest of the girls in her compartment. Introductions were again in order, so Fausta introduced the young Celosia to "Kolumbiko, Kurtis Kolumbiko; Bishopper, Elijah Bishopper; Palin Parkinson of Parkinson; and Morrigan, Aodh Morrigan." They each nodded to her in turn, and then Fausta went on to the first years. "David Max-St. Clair of Max; Buttermere, Xalvador Buttermere; and Icarus Greengrass of Greengrass."

Everyone else had already previously met during luncheons, dinner parties, or balls at some point or another over the years, except for Celosia. Celosia was a Flamel, an ancient French Wizarding family that had gained international notoriety due to Nicolas and Perenelle, her 21st-great-grandparents. Though her family had business connections to Britain, international parties were uncommon, therefore Celosia had yet to ever meet any of the non-family members present in either compartment before today.

Luckily for her, her second cousin, Fausta, was able to help her with introductions. She could've introduced herself to other people, of course, but it was always a bit of an embarrassment to have nobody to introduce you to others for you. According to her mother, it was such a faux pas in Britain that one did simply not introduce oneself at all unless it was their first day of Hogwarts! Celosia simply couldn't imagine it, but she supposed she'd have to live with it for the next seven years. 

While she was musing about the strictness of British etiquette, the rest of the compartment was wondering who the new Ancient Runes professor would be. Professor Babbling, aged 93, had decided to finally retire from the post that she had held for half a century, citing that she wanted to spend proper time with her grandchildren, who all lived in Holland. Elijah Bishopper, who was somewhat a nerd when it came to the subject, had brought an auto-updating book of all individuals with a Runes Mastery, the main qualifier for the job.

It was an old, old, tome, bound with the hide of creatures past with pages of parchment, titled in Elder Futhark: ᚢᚾᚨᛒᚱᛁᛞᚷᛖᛞ ᚲᚨᛏᚨᛚᛟᚷᚢᛖ ᛟᚠ ᚱᚢᚾᛖᛊ ᛗᚨᛊᛏᛖᚱᛁ. For the common person who couldn't read Elder Futhark, and for the sake of cataloguing it in various libraries worldwide, it had the translation in small letters under it, " _ **Unabridged Catalogue of Runes Mastery**_ ".Though the natural version was of course unabridged, the table of contents had the ability to modify the book to categorize the Masters Lists, such as gender or life status. Bishopper sensibly chose to limit the catalogue to merely the living Masters, of which there were only 83 worldwide.

The book itself was also written in Elder Futhark runage, but Palin Parkinson and Elijah Bishopper, who both knew the alphabet like the back of their hands(Palin due to the family business, Elijah due to personal interest), could transliterate it easily. The two browsed through the list, calling out each name and seeing if anyone recognized it. Of the ones they recognized, they narrowed it down to a select few who they knew  _might_  have applied for the job: Delilah Marchbanks, Susan Bones, Charles Marin, Samuel Thomsonicle, and Rudolf Carter. 

They suspected the new professor would be either Bones or Thomsonicle, who both would have relatives starting school in the coming years, or was otherwise a Master or Mistress they didn't know of. Their research and speculation concluded, the compartments continued onto the next topic of conversation.

At least, they tried, until an unexpected knock sounded at the girls' door. They knew it wasn't the trolley, because it would've hit the boys' compartment first, so what was it? Araminta, nearest to the door, answered it, asked "What can I do for you?" then, to their slight surprise, immediately stepped out to the hallway and closed the door behind her. Odd.

Outside the compartment, Araminta inquired in a hushed voice, "Pardon me, but what happened to  _you_?"

The child in front of her, with bruised knees, a disheveled Muggle skirt, a button-up shirt, and beat up sneakers, didn't immediately answer, but instead inspected the older girl in front of her, noting her wardrobe choice and taking her to be of some wealth, so she decided to introduce herself the "proper" way to get some potential pureblood points. "Perplex, Beatrix Perplex, hi. And, to answer your question: I had to escape to get here. Wasn't fun. And you are?"

Araminta Lufkin was _reeling_  at that explanation. ‘ _What?? She escaped? From where, some Muggle hellhole? What kind of wizard would leave her there? Oh, hell, what if she’s a Muggleborn? Bloody hell, that would be a hassle. And she looks so calm, too, for “escaping” from somewhere. Does that mean she has a mask? Hmm.’_

At that thought, Araminta's own concerned expression schooled itself back into it's normal pureblood mask that was so familiar, though internally she was just as worried and confused over the girl as before. She decided to help this tiny child, but not without her ever-present bravado. "Lufkin, Araminta Lufkin. I could stand to allow you into my compartment, but you first have to at least somewhat resemble presentableness. First of all— _ **SCOURGIFY.**_   _ **EPISKEY.**_  I'm sure you already know, but the first spell cleaned you off, and the second healed your knees. Also, come with me to the bathroom so you can put on your robes. Your own clothes are unsightly, and I can't believe you didn't already think of changing."

"I would change had I seen a restroom, but I must say I didn't know there  _was_  one on the train. I certainly didn't see it on the way here," explained Perplex.

"That's because it looks like a regular old compartment, aside from the strip of black paint on the door."

"Oh."

The walk was rather silent to the bathroom, with only the sound of Lufkin's soldier-like footsteps and the talk and laughter from nearby compartments filling the corridor. After Beatrix had changed and returned from her stall, she asked, "You're a Slytherin; you wouldn't help out an unknown without one reason or another. What do you want in return for helping me?"

Araminta sighed, but was internally pleased at the younger girl's lack of naivety of Araminta's intent. It was promising, and she recognized that the child might land herself in Slytherin, which was welcome; she was on her way to deciding she liked this waifish girl walking in step with her. She had one question, a niggling thought that was bothering her a wee bit, to ask before answering: "Why did you decide to approach our compartment, a random one without any special placement in the middle of the train?" It seemed odd to her.

The upcoming first year replied, "I let Fate decide. Fate can shape the outcomes of minor events, yes? Well, I spun in a circle and walked in a specific direction until I tripped over my shoelaces and decided the compartment I tripped by was the one I should knock on."

"You're a fan of Divination, I gather?" Lufkin inquired, deciding not to comment on the tripping part.

"Not really; I haven't read anything on it. I just know that because it was a side-comment on something or another in  _ **Cauldwell's Courtesy Codex**_. Useful book. Anyways, what's my expected payback?" Beatrix asked, slightly irritated that Araminta was seemingly trying to divert her.

"Simply a favor. I haven't decided the specifics yet."

Beatrix became slightly uneasy upon hearing her answer, but nevertheless accepted it. Soon enough, the two were already all the way back to the compartment. Araminta shot Beatrix a "be-good" glance before opening the door. The eyes of the thirteen all turned to the two as conversation ceased. Araminta coughed delicately, telling them all, "This delightful girl had a message from my cousin, saying he needed to ask a question. We got acquainted along the way to his compartment, so I just had to bring her back here. Anyways, Perplex, may I present you to these fine ladies and gentlemen...” 

After they all gave a nod or similar in response to their introduction, she asked Aodh, "Pardon me, but why do you go by your initial?"

Aodh's face showed slight irritation at the question, but the younger students all missed it, now knowing him as well as his fellow fourth-years did. "It's _not_ an initial. My name is A-O-D-H. It's Celtic, so it sounds like the letter E is all." The boy  _did_ have an incredibly thick Irish accent, no doubt about that, with freckles to match. His hair, a sandy blonde, was what kept her from reaching an Irish conclusion immediately.

"Mr. E over here gets grumpy when he has to correct people on his name," Kolumbiko told Beatrix, while wrapping his arm around his friend's shoulders. Morrigan scrunched his nose at him as he shrugged the skinnier boy away. "What? You know it's true. I don't get why, honestly, considering you've corrected people your entire life. You think you'd get used to it by now."

"Getting used to something doesn't mean you can't be annoyed by it. I know it's gonna happen every time, but does that make it less of a pain? No," Aodh protested.

"Ah, but that isn't getting used to it, that's merely expecting it!" Kurtis retorted. "Not what I said, hmm, now is it?"

Quickly, Kurtis switched the topic in an attempt to cover his hide. The boy decided to switch the object of his teasing to Eli, the resident nerd. "Reminds me—Elijah, who do you think will take the new Chaser position now that Burl Montague is gone: Michael Pritchard or Adrian Cooper?"

Eli had been gunning for the open Chaser position, and those two were his main competitors. Kurtis knew it would rile his friend up before he realized it was a joke, and he got the expected reaction. "Whatddya mean, Pritchard or Cooper? _I'm_ going to be the one to—wait a second," he caught himself while sending his friend of four years a suspicious, appraising glance. Elijah Bishopper gave a harrumph, before restructuring his response and argument. 

"Very funny. Of the two, I'd say Cooper. Pritchard is a bit creepy, and I doubt the rest of the team would tolerate his presence even for a couple hours, much less practices all year. Pritchard does have a  _bit_ of an edge over Cooper, mainly because he's less afraid to be over-aggressive to get his way. That means fouls,though, and we have Lestrange for that. Still, neither of those chuckleheads are going to get the position, I will. Cooper may be the Head Reserve Chaser, but he has OWLs this year and I heard that he won't even play unless all the other players are utter shite." Palin Parkinson, Fausta Avery, Marianne Ilminster, and Elaine Ealdest all nodded at that. Each of them had witnessed their older sibling(s) struggle through their OWLs, and understood the pain as much as an outsider could. The younger cohort, while knowing of the OWLs, had never been in school to witness a sibling struggle with studying for the tests, and simply could notcomprehend why someone would sacrifice _Quidditch_ for some dumb exam.

This resulted in a discussion of Quidditch being launched, first about Slytherin's dynamics, then if Gryffindor and Slytherin had a chance against Hufflepuff's incredibly talented but somewhat young beaters, Leopold Macmillan and Ebenezer Smith. Then, they discussed the merits of the Puff Chasers, of which there was little; they at this point had a crummy-to-mediocre offense and only the sheer excellence of their two Beaters has kept them in top spot. This led to the discussion moving from a crummy offense to a team that was entirely crummy: Ravenclaw. The group proceeded to discuss how the team could be improved, through both tactics and replacement of team members. Then Kolumbiko made a joke comparing the Ravenclaws to the Tutshill Tornadoes(the Cannons had made a comeback over the past decade and a half and were second in the League, while the Tornadoes had been at the bottom of the barrel ever since). This led to the topic being about professional Quidditch, which was a lot more in-depth.

Most of the girls—Araminta, Amarantha, Fausta, Evangeline, Marianne, Beatrix, Celosia—watched the discussion take place, and while seemingly paying attention, never said a word. The younger ones, however, paid attention to the people more than the actual conversation topic, trying to gauge them. Kurtis Kolumbiko was a jokester, a bit of a comedian, who liked to tease his friends lightly but could use his skill of wordsmithery to scathingly insult those he didn't like(Ravenclaw Chaser and Captain Cornelius Belby, as well as Daniel Pocus of the Falcons). Aodh Morrigan was stony-faced, broad-shouldered, and burly, who was a bit stand-offish and almost never smiled or laughed, but when he did laugh, it was a great, booming one. Palin Parkinson never led the conversation, but when he gave his opinion, it seemed to have more credibility purely because he held it; he seemed wise, but also exhausted for whatever reason. His tone didn't indicate it, but the circles under his eyes and his sloping posture did. Elijah Bishopper was simultaneously a nerd and a jock, and didn't seem to be much of a Slytherin; he was gullible and not exactly cunning, though clever and creative when it came to Quidditch theory and he was quick to get a joke. He honestly seemed more of a Ravenclaw than anything else, so how exactly did he wind up in the snake house? 

Elaine Ealdest and Petronilla Buttermere were the only two girls that pitched in, to lesser degrees(also less character to evaluate, much to the first years’ disappointment). Ealdest always went the extra mile to help: she brought a book on the current speculation of what each team's plays and strategies were; another one cataloguing the total wins, losses, and ties of the seasons; and the hefty rulebook, all to help the others cite information or gather it where needed, though she appeared to not care much for the sport herself. Buttermere would, on occasion, offer an insight or think up an answer nobody else could come up with when faced with a tough question. She was rather timid, unlike her brother.

Xalvador Buttermere wasn't loud or bold, no. He only pitched in more than one would expect, brave enough to participate in discussion with people a whopping three years older than him and much higher up on the Hogwarts food chain. Realising they could too participate, David Max-St. Clair and Icarus Greengrass also piped up occasionally.

Unfortunately, Celosia couldn't gather much of their character beyond Quidditch insights, so she resorted to appearance. The three had the standard stick-straight pureblood posture(All in both compartments did, really, except for Perplex and Parkinson, who were slouching just a bit, and Kolumbiko, who was leaning back in his seemingly typical good-natured/confident manner). Buttermere's and Max-St.Clair's faces were more expressive than Greengrass's by a thick margin. Buttermere, like his sister, had eyebrows with a high arch andhooded brown(hazel, maybe? She was too far away to tell) eyes, but unlike his sister had a round face and short honey-blond hair in a French crop cut. Maybe it was baby fat? Max-St. Clair had dark eyes, a small nose, and the notorious Max hair(so notorious that even Celosia, a France native, knew about it!)—a very fiery, very reddish shade on one side, a carroty and slightly duller shade on the other; it had been cut in the curtain bang style, which kept his split-down-the-middle coloring from looking _too_  awful. Greengrass had slicked-back medium-toned brown hair and very high cheekbones, with light eyes. 

Likewise, the older girls were trying to get a grasp on the firstie girls. Beatrix's posture was acceptable but not as good as the others'(excluding Palin and Kurtis), and her heritage seemed to be mixed. Obviously some European blood, but also a hefty chunk of... Oriental? None of the girls had really had much association of anybody of Eastern Asian descent outside of the Changs and a few select Honshuan merchants. This girl looked like neither. The Changs had rounder faces, a different nose, and a different eye shape than she, and Perplex looked dissimilar to the merchants, indicating a different subrace. Everybody knew that China had no wizards, so what was she? From another part of the Japanese Empire? Siamese? Her hair was a dark brown and she had arched eyebrows, dimples, non-monolid eyes, and her face was a bit triangular and a bit squarish but not in a brutish way. On the rare occasion she talked, she was enthusiastic, yet she seemed slightly weary and more nervous than the rest of them, even poor Celosia, who had blonde hair in ringlets that went down to just past her shoulders, long legs, light eyes, and seemed rather observant.

Amarantha Lufkin was a miniature of her older sister, with wavyish light brown hair with a red tint, rosy skin, eyes that were dark brown but looked black unless in direct sunlight, and thin eyebrows. The only difference in appearance besides height and youth was that Amarantha's hair was merely a bob, while Araminta's hair was obviously very long(she always wore it up in elaborate hairstyles, so nobody except her house-elf and the girl herself could be certain of the exact length). Evangeline, while not her sister's duplicate, still resembled her well. Same black hair, same blue eyes, same roundish face. The difference lay in the actual features of the face: Elaine had her father's nose, brow, and forehead, whereas Evangeline had her mother's. They each had a different chin of uncertain origin. 

Boys discussing Quidditch was like a Dementor's desire for souls; it never ceased. They were  _still_ on that topic, though at least they moved on from the Falcons' Keeper to who they thought was going to qualify for the World Cup in three years(England was a yes, and so was Liechtenstein, Denmark, Norway, the Black Forest, and Abyssinia. Nobody had a clue who would actually win). Luckily for all the agonized females, a knock at the boys' door stopped the conversation for the time being.

The same nameless old lady as always announced that she had a trolley and advertised all the foods present. Elijah Bishopper and Kurtis Kolumbiko proceeded to buy a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and test them out.

Kolumbiko popped a teal one into his mouth, then made a face. "Seawater," he declared disgustedly. 

Bishopper picked a red bean out of the bag and scrutinized it closely, before putting it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. 

"Strawberry?" Kurtis guessed.

"No," he responded. "Blood."

As soon as Elijah said that, the ancient trolley woman was knocking on the girls' door. "Candy, dearies?"

"No ma'am," was the chorus heard, with one exception, Petronilla. "Some chocolate, please." When others in the compartment gave her quizzical looks, she shrugged and told them, "What? You never know with what happens in this school," referring to chocolate's healing properties and how they might be of use.

With that quick interlude over, the two boys resumed to their bean flavour-testing, this time with others besides the two pitching in when guessing what the flavour would be. Soon enough, Palin was betting Aodh six sickles that it would be lima bean, not grass. It eventually became something of a gambling competition between the all of fourth years, even the quiet Marianne Travers. 

Beatrix, who was sitting to the left of Araminta, asked the older girl, "Do you do this betting a lot?"

"Sure," she replied. "The money barely amounts to anything besides a few more candies from Honeydukes or an extra Butterbeer or two from Three Broomsticks, and it's fun to guess and win and get something for it. Hogwarts even has a ‘secret’ student-operated hat operation for House Quidditch, from the Cup to a regular game win to who catches the snitch to who scores the first goal. There's a hatter in each House. I know ours is Cendrillon Lestrange and Hufflepuff's is T.R. Lupin, and that Ravenclaw and Gryffindor's spots are up for grabs since the previous hatters—Al Corner and Gerry Peakes—graduated last year. It's fraction-based odds where the hatter takes in a small portion of the payout. It works, but it's a bit disorganized since most of the time the hatters are students who are in their OWL or NEWT test-taking years and don't have the time to make it properly efficient. It's still fun with the disorganization, because it's easier to scam Gryffindors out of their money." Araminta surprised herself with how much she told the child she had only just met, who could wind up in Gryffindor and tell her new Lion friends about what she learned. Yet, she found herself wanting to help the girl out where she could. Odd.

"So there isn't much of an obvious way to fix it, is there? Younger students would either a) be incompetent or b) cling to the role longer, up to and past their OWL years, so the disorganization would still exist. Having multiple hatters would dilute the profits from either the existing hatters or the winners. What else is there?"

"If I knew, don't you think I'd use the information to help out?"

"Fair." And thus the two returned their attentions to the main conversation taking place, which was soon to end as they were on their third-to-last bean. 

From that they shifted over to the ever-fun firstie interrogation: What subject are you looking to most? What marks are you expecting? After some short and somewhat testy answers from each student-to-be, the fourteen year-olds moved on to asking about relatives.

"Elaine, how's Preston doing?" asked Aodh.

"His apprenticeship is going well, but it means I've only been able to see him twice this summer. I know Clovis Hebert studied under Nicolas Flamel and is one of the most qualified Potions Masters out there, but I hate not seeing him! All I get is letters with Tyrian purple ink. It's a poor compensation for the real person." 

"Grand-père still keeps a correspondence with Hebert," Celosia told them, “and he says he has two apprentices studying under him at the moment. Does this Preston fellow have the surname of Marcellus or Travers?"

"Preston Travers, that's him," Elaine Ealdest informed her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Palin make a hand gesture of drawing a small circle with his finger, but ignored it. 

"Yup!" Petronilla, her closest friend, jumped in. "Her _betro-othed_ ," she declared in a sing-song voice. 

"Psh, you have no right to talk, _Madam Bishopper_ ," Elaine retorted. 

Petronilla gave her own betrothed a wink, before telling her best friend, "At least I'm not complaining over "only" Tyrian purple ink. That's a total step up from Palatinate purple! I would've reckoned you pleased as a partridge during Christmas, yet you forgot to even tell me!"

"Oh, trust me, I am. I just miss him. Wait 'til  _you_ have to be seperated from Elijah for more than a week. Maybe you'll think differently."

"I bet I will, but in the meantime I'll still tease you about it," she told her, chuckling lightly. "Anyways, how's your brother doing, Elaine?"

"Elliot's having fun on his post-Hogwarts world voyage, or at least he says he is. If I recall correctly, he's in Timbuktu right now. After that, Cairo maybe. His letters are few and far between, so it's hard to keep properly updated." Changing the subject slightly, she inquired, "Fausta, where are Tiberius and Burl right now?" Burl Montague and Tiberius Avery were two close friends who had graduated this past year and were out touring the world together, same as Elaine’s own brother.

"Babylon. Burl's had quite the fascination with all the foreign plants in the Hanging Gardens and has been documenting them all, to my brother's chagrin."

"Tiberius was always pants at Herbology, wasn't he?" asked Kolumbiko.

"Uh huh, and that's why he's hating the Gardens so much. Called the plants 'done to death and garish' even." Fausta chuckled slightly at her brother's hatred of all things Herbology. 

"Speaking of done to death, have you seen Twillfit and Tattings's new line? Those dressrobes look beaten raw," Araminta asserted. 

"I know, right?" Evangeline, Elaine's sister, chimed in. "Their dark green dress looked horrendous, especially with those thick black stitches. I dunno what they were thinking with that piece."

"Exactly!" Now that the official topic of conversation was fashion, the boys retreated to the familiarity of Exploding Snap in their own compartment, muting out their discussions of the abomination that Twillfit and Tattings’s new line was. 

With all the other girls talking about the Wizarding British shop, Celosia Flamel was utterly lost, knowing little about this country’s fashion. She resorted to mouthing "Help!" to Beatrix Perplex. The girl, who also knew virtually nothing about the store, merely shrugged.

Flamel internally started at that. Beatrix didn't know about the new robe line? She wore her Hogwarts robes fashionably; how could she do that and not pay attention to fashion? Was she not from Wizarding Britain? She didn't exactly  _look_ British, but _still_. Then again, while Perplex was on the Hogwarts Registry, her _père_ hadn't included her in his dossier of future first-years, meaning he didn't know anything about her or her family.

Who _was_  she? 

* * *

S L O E   L I N E 

* * *

 

**Meanwhile...**

**The compartment next door**

**3rd carriage, Hogwarts Express, somewhere in the countryside, England**

A compartment away, Aodh Morrigan covertly picked up his wand and muttered a spell just as Exploding Snap started.

" _ **MOBILICORPUS**_."

Just in time, too, since the spell’s target’s turn was soon approaching. It's hard to see and tap identical cards—which is the objective of the game—when you're blind, after all. Ergo, Aodh has to move the boy’s hand in the right direction for him.

* * *

S L O E   L I N E

* * *

 

**10:56 AM**

**Platform 9 3/4**

**King's Cross Station, London, England**

The Potters and Weasleys were never, ever, described as early birds. Hence we had James Potter and Teddy Lupin rushing across the lowly-populated platform(as all the students had gone inside the train and only the parents and other non-Hogwarts-attending family members remained) with just over three minutes to spare. Ginny Potter was, well, Ginny Potter, and had thus forgotten the time and hadn't ever reminded the two boys(who weren't type to check the time themselves, even Teddy, who now had a watch) to get ready for the day. 

Teddy was currently wearing James’s face and body as he ran through the platform, bumping into several people along the way. James followed behind him at a slower pace, stopping and apologizing to everyone Teddy had bumped into. Their faces were  _priceless_ , honestly. Their bewilderment when they turned to him then turned back to see what happened to Teddy-as-James? Hilarious! The two of them certainly thought so, as they were both giggling incessantly by the time they reached the train with a whopping nine seconds to spare. 

Freddie, also sharing the Weasley trait of lateness, had only got there a few minutes before and was walking through the carriage hall, looking for an open compartment, when he turned and saw James and Teddy-as-James. Eyeing the two of them, he groaned slightly, all the while grinning. "What did I miss out on?"

After about half a minute of waving at the all the Weasley family members present on the platform, as well as the Potters and Andromeda Tonks, Teddy explained, "I bumped into a lot of people while running through the platform, then James came up to them a bit later and apologized to each of 'em. You should've seen their faces, Freddie! Oh—" he collapsed into giggles again.

"Damn, I missed out," Freddie mourned. "I've cleared almost the entire carriage and I have yet to see an empty compartment, Teddy. Can we room with you and your friends?" 

"Hmm, should I let you?" Teddy inquired of himself. "See, when I was a wee sprog like yourselves"—he shrunk from wearing an eleven-year-old James to a toddler Teddy—"I had to face the cruel, uncaring, treacherous events of the train ride all on my own!" he ended in a near-wail. "Why should I deny you the same experience? After all, that's where I first met A.J." A.J. Cholmondeley was a Ravenclaw, and one of Teddy's closest friends. 

"But we already  _have_  a best friend!" Freddie whined, looking down at the seventeen year-old toddler. "Each other!"

"Yeah, so? I was besties with Twa, doesn't mean you can't spread your horizons either."

He was met with two unconvinced stares.

Seeing they would not budge in their begging, he said, "Bye!" before morphing to his natural age, giving himself insanely long legs, and running over to the front carriage and far, far away from them.

Looking after his godbrother, James sighed. "You would've thought that Teddy would pull our leg a bit more before running away."

"Yeah, I wonder what's up with that," Freddie responded. "Maybe A.J. found something out and refused to tell him anything over letter and he had to wait until they saw each other in person again?"

"Maybe," James mused. "Or... maybe he has a new lady friend he's desperate to meet? Freddie, any idea who the new Head Girl is?"

"Nope."

"Me neither."

"Then why'd you ask?"

"Uhm... you tell me, kid," James responded unwittily, for he didn't have a good answer.

"James, I'm older than you."

"So? I'm better."

"Pshhh."

In the midst of their antics, they almost bumped right into a boy who had just walked out of the bathroom compartment. "Sorry," they all blurted simultaneously. 

The new boy asked, "Firsties too?" Receiving a pair of nods, the boy called upon his reserves of boldness to inquire of them, "Do you two have a compartment yet? I forgot to claim one before heading to the loo." 

"No, but we're looking." Thus James, Freddie, and the unnamed boy continued to go down the hallway of the carriage.

Reaching the end of it, an annoyed Freddie declared, "You know what? Next carriage, I'm opening a door, I don't care if the window blinds are closed or not. Too bad for them, I wanna sit."

Both wanting a place to sit down, neither objected to this course of action. When Freddie did open a door and enter the compartment brazenly, trunk in hand, he was met with no response other than the snores of two sleeping boys who looked to be brothers.

The other two filed in after him, then saw what(or rather who) Freddie was looking at. "Should we try another one?" the unnamed boy asked.

"Nah," answered James. "These people can't yell at us to leave, plus I think I might know a spell that will work to keep them from waking from us being too loud."

"Merlin, James, are you going to try another spell again? They never work!"

"They do! Just not well. Besides, any help is better than none.  _ **MUFFLIATO**_. Found that in Dad's office, apparently it makes it so they can't hear you."

"Is this your first time trying it?" inquired Freddie.

"Nope, I've tried it a few other times this summer on Al. Didn't work though."

"Wait, you can use your wand before school starts?" asked the unnamed boy.

"Yeah, until school starts you're in the clear. Hence why I've been practicing a bit. James Potter by the way, who're you?"

"Like James, son of Harry and Ginny Potter?" An ever-so-slightly irritated nod. "Sebastian Hildeswat. Of Hildeswat," he told the two, tacking the last part on belatedly.

"Freddie Weasley, at your service. Did you by any chance bring your Chocolate Frog Cards with you? I brought mine, if you wanna trade."

"Sure!" Sebastian Hildeswat responded, grinning. "I'll get them out of my trunk."

Thus started the sparks of a relatively amiable friendship that would continue for quite some time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I made a Ginny comment, and she’s uh... eh. You’ll find out. But I don’t plan on bashing Ginny because I thought she was bad in canon or anything, okay? Okay.
> 
> Also - on the sudden opening, not even a prologue. I dont have one to add and my poor attempt at pre-train scenes were piss-poor and something you do NOT wanna see.


End file.
